Creatures of the Night

     The Red Hills harbor many kinds of  animals.  Bats are among the most fascinating.  Over a half dozen of Kansas's 16 species can be found in or near some of the gypsum caves in these parts.  As far as size of colonies, no species equals that of the Brazilian Free-tailed Bat.  In one cave (featured here), upwards of a million of these bats call it their home.  The Brazilian Free-tailed females migrate here every year to give birth to their young.  Every dusk roughly from May to September, they fly out of the cave, chasing flying beetles, moths and other insects on wing.  They are a valuable asset to humans and an integral part of the Red Hills ecosystem; bats are also fascinating to watch.  Many can be seen away from their roosts, feeding above small streams and ponds and many times around light sources.  There are many misconceptions about bats.  To learn factual information about these interesting flying mammals, google Bat Conservation International.  To obtain an excellent booklet called "Bats of Kansas" by Sparks, Schmidt and Choate, check with Sternberg Museum of Hays, Kansas or the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita.

With a wing-spread of up to 10 inches, the Brazilian Free-tailed Bat is a large and nimble flying machine.

Staging in the cave before exiting, these bats use their echolocation (sonar) to help prevent collisions with other things and to locate food on the wing outside.

Thousands of bats circle, waiting for more darkness to exit for long feeding excursions.

Mariam and Andrew came all the way from Manhattan, New York to get some video of these flying mammals.

Brazilian Free-tailed Bats exited this cave for over an hour.  

Happy videographers!

Native Plant Celebration in the Red Hills

     The Kansas Native Plant Society is coming to the Red Hills!  The regular fall meeting and field trips of the KNPS is meeting in Pratt from Sept. 19-21.  There are several field trips planned as well as a very interesting program as part of the proceedings.  Google Kansas Native Plant Society or go to http://www.kansasnativeplantsociety.org/ for more information. Here are a few of the cool plants which were observed and photographed very recently at a couple of the stops.

Stout Scorpion Weed is one of the most iconic representatives of the flora of the Red Hills.  Called "Ugly Weed" by some locals, this plant is a late bloomer and offers a unique flower head.  

Also called "Fiddle Head" for obvious reasons, this plant has small but very pretty flowers.  Here, a Digger Bee enjoys its nectar.

One of several species of gayfeather, this is Liatris glabra.

Phyllis captures Cadence taking shelter in one of the many very interesting rock formations at one of the stops on the KNPS upcoming field trips.

Silktop Dalea is in its glory right now in the Red Hills.

Drama in the Garden

     The Wheel Bug is a great asset to any organic garden. Here I try to give some photographic justice to the intriguing nature of these insect beasts.  Up close, they appear as a dinosaur-like throwback in some old-timey horror movie--a creature you definitely would not want to meet on their turf.  That has to be the feeling of some of these other insects who met their fate at the "beak" of these fierce looking bug-suckers.

This Wheel Bug is doing great service by attacking damaging squash bugs. The next dinner waits nearby as its cohort gets eaten.

Not necessarily an animal you wish to run in to, this Black Widow spider makes short work of an unlucky grasshopper.

This White-lined Sphinx Moth curiously visits the drama at this sunflower while feeding on its nectar.  

A giant sunflower attracts much attention from a variety of insects and creates a battleground for garden dramas of life and death.

Up close, this Wheel Bug has captured a Digger Bee for supper.  I do wish they wouldn't get my wild, native pollinators but they aren't too discriminating when it comes to their food.  They eat a lot of squash bugs so they earn their keep.

Wheel Bugs battle each other for territorial rights.

Black Beauty

     Black swallowtails bring beauty and joy wherever encountered.  This is a photo essay of one of nature's most attractive insects on a variety of nectar sources taken in a span of just a few minutes.  This is a fantastic year for butterflies in the Kansas Outback as its been a great year for many flowering plants providing both host plants for caterpillars and food for the adults.  Enjoy!

A male black swallowtail on Baldwin's ironweed.

This male swallowtail is enjoying some canna nectar.

This swallowtail shows the attractive undersides while on a prairie sunflower.

The male black swallowtail exhibits larger yellow spots on its upper wings than the female.

A Wheel bug is one of the Assassin bugs and is stalking a Black swallowtail caterpillar.  Poised to strike for several minutes, it decided not to attack, proving the value of the key defensive feature of the foul-tasting Black swallowtail larvae.

Why I Hate Kansas

A recent tour of our country roads reminded me of why I hate Kansas so much.  See captions below for my explanations of my misery.  

The countryside is so ugly.

Life is just way too fast-paced.

The wildlife is menacing.

There's nothing to eat.

Mmmmm mulberries are horrible.

The roads are sooooo crowded!

Happy 4th where ever you are!

Stalking a Red Hills Rattlesnake

     Am I really crazy?  I don't think so.  I find two things particularly fascinating.  One is a group of what I consider to be the most graceful animals, snakes.  The other is the reaction of people towards snakes.  Here I present a simple photo study of one of our fascinating Kansas reptiles, the Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis.)
     On a recent trip to the Red Hills with friends, Lee Ann and a couple of grandkids in tow, we came across this rattlesnake sunning in the road.  Abruptly sliding to a ditch-side stop, we corralled the wily beast in a mid-way slither across the sandy road.  Grabbing my snake stick, I gently teased the venomous serpent into a classic "coiled and ready to strike" pose.  The video crew with me took video, Jeff Rumans (below) and I took stills and grandson Paxon helped keep an eye on the snake.  Through explanation below, I present the photo event.  To me, it was quite a normal thing to do.  This rattlesnake was very, very docile.  It hardly rattled although it had every reason to be pissed at me.  For several minutes, the video tape rolled and Jeff shot pics.  Then leaving the snake under Paxon's watchful and serious stare (from a very safe distance), I grabbed my cam and went to work at ground level.  A couple of these shots were posted on The Nature Conservancy's facebook page and the reactions of the FB community was quite interesting.  Its always clear that snakes get attention.  That's why I used them for years in educational programs.  But I'm still fascinated by people's reactions to snakes, nearly as much as I am by the incredible creatures themselves.  Here's the story:

     Jeff Rumans stalks the venomous reptile.  Actually Jeff was just getting up from taking a picture of me on the other side of the snake who was obviously taking pics too.


     The rest of the gang videos and watches from the sidelines.  Adaira is kept well back by g-ma.

Paxon keeps a serious and watchful eye on the snake as I grab my camera.


      Shooting the snake with a 35-135 zoom at a safe distance although Jeff's telephoto looks like it's right in front of my nose.

Photo by Jeff Rumens

     Jeff's side shot shows I was well enough back for safety.  Rattlesnake--3ft long.  Distance to my nose--over 4ft.  That's ample buffer for this guy.

Photo by Jeff Rumens

     My shot at eyeball-to-eyeball level.  Isn't he/she beautiful?!

Barber County Bouquets

     Nearly 60 folks enjoyed a very pleasant day May 10 in the Red Hills of Barber County for the long-standing annual Barber County Wildflower Tour.  Sponsored by the Barber County Conservation District with help from long-time volunteers including Harold Cline and Courtney Pilkington, participants were first entertained by presentations about wildflowers in the region.  Then the group traveled to the Z-Bar Ranch in southwestern  Barber County to enjoy an up-close visit with the bison on the ranch.  Keith and Eva Yearout, ranch managers, told the group all about their bison herd and the interesting behavior and management needs of the prairie beasts.  After a fine lunch at the Eagle Township Park in the south part of the county, the group headed to Sam Beier's ranch where leaders took three different groups around a course marked with flags to identify wildflowers and a few grasses as well.  In spite of the on-going drought, about 40 plants were able to be marked with most of them in bloom.  Some of the plants are depicted in the images below.  I had the privilege of assisting Harold Cline and Carl Jarboe as group leaders for the tour.  Phyllis Scherich, co-author of the Red Hills Wildflower Pocket Guide was on hand to assist as well.  Special thanks to Cheryl Davis for a lot of background preparations and coordination!  All-in-all, it was a gorgeous day to be out in the Red Hills!

First stop--enjoying and learning about Bison on the Ted Turner Zbar Ranch

Keith Yearout tells of some of the special Bison biology on the Zbar.

I get to share some information about a wildflower with the young and the older.

Lambert's Crazyweed  

Penstamens were blooming.

Purple Ground Cherry

Scarlet-globe Mallow

Plains Hymenoxis

False (Wild) Dandelion

This wildflower guide is available through the Great Plains Nature Center, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism and offices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Barber, Kiowa and Clark counties as well as additional offices in the region.